Chemical organization help

Hey guys! I just graduated from Purdue with an MET degree about a month ago and am doing a safety engineer internship right now. As well as doing some cad drawings and other entry level tasks, I have been given the msds audit project to do. I'm doing fine with that, but in my factory, people tend to bring in their own supplies on occasion, and then these supplies vanish. The problem with this is that those chemicals have to be logged in our computers for msds for years an they may only be in the factory for a month. Other than posting signs telling these people to make sure they don't bring their own materials, how can I help keep this organized so that the next person that gets this project doesn't spend three days looking for a material that we might not have had for months? If this is an unclear question, let me know. I'm sure it's not your everyday problem and I'm not sure if I posted it in the correct forum. Any ideas will be appreciated. Ill be brainstorming myself as well. Thanks!

Hi Damon and welcome to the forum.

You say... "... but in my factory, people tend to bring in their own supplies on occasion, and then these supplies vanish. ..." And... ".... Other than posting signs telling these people to make sure they don't bring their own materials... "

When you say these things, I expect you're talking about low dollar things like PB Blaster, WD40, Anti-Sieze, Loctite, etc. that might help their day go more smoothly... and not some high dollar crazy juice?

If thier bringing in their own materials then your employer is pretty lucky I'd say. One less thing to pay for you know... But if it's a problem then you tell them to stop it. If they continue then you fire them. If it isn't a big deal then you look up the MSDA's for the stuff they're bringing in and post it. Just because something is in your MSDS book doesn't mean it needs to be currently in stock. Stock meaning in house by whoever's means. Doesn't matter if you haven't had it in house for years... it can still be in your MSDS pack.

If the materials they bring in contain certain undesireable chemicals then you might need to simply put a stop to it. Some businesses forbid the use of certain chemicals in the production of their products even at a supplier level.

Good Luck...
Bob

Yes I do mean low dollar things, like they ran to the store on their shift and we live in a small town, so these people will more than likely put it on the company's tab at the store they go to. So the company is more than likely still paying for it. I know we don't have to have the chemicals in the shop to have them in the msds, but we have a seperate binder and folder for "obsolete" msds's because it is required you keep these on file for 30 years. So when I'm going through a department, I have to find all of these chemicals and if I can't find them, I don't know if its just from organization issues or if this is a chemical we had in the shop for a couple days and it's never returned.